Adhir Ranjan meets PM Modi over attacks on Bengalis

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised the issue of “attacks” on Bengali-speaking to people, especially in BJP-ruled States, and the problems faced by the backward Matua community in West Bengal.

Chowdhury, a former Congress chief in West Bengal, urged the prime minister’s intervention in helping stop such “attacks”, which, he said, could lead to communal tension and possibly violence in the State.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, the former five-time MP said he raised the issue of migrant workers and also the problems being faced by the Matua community. Asked about the prime minister’s response, Chowdhury said, “He assured he is watching the situation and this should not happen.”

To a query about the political significance of the meeting, which comes ahead of West Bengal assembly polls, he said, “There is no political significance. I came to Delhi a few days ago; coincidentally, I got to meet him.” Chowdhury handed over a letter to Modi, in which he alleged that Bengali-speaking people are being treated as “infiltrators” in parts of the country.

“Their only offence is that they speak in the Bengali language. They are often misunderstood by the administration concerned as persons belonging to neighbouring Bangladesh and treated as infiltrators,” he wrote. Several parts of West Bengal have a majority Muslim population and share a border with Bangladesh. Communal tension is rising among communities in these areas as a result of such “attacks” elsewhere in the country, he said. Sources close to the Congress leader said he flagged the issue of alleged targeting of Bengali-speaking people in BJP-ruled states. He urged the prime minister to “sensitise all state Governments” against discrimination, violence, and persecution of migrant labourers from other parts of the country.

Chowdhury had earlier accused both the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the BJP of using the backward Matua community in West Bengal as a vote bank while failing to support them as they face uncertainty over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Matuas are a Dalit Hindu refugee community that migrated from Bangladesh over decades following religious persecution and have a significant presence across North 24 Parganas, Nadia and parts of South 24 Parganas.